Railway-switch



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' C.H. EIMKE' RAILWAYSWITGH.

No. 530,404. "Patented '1390.4; 1894-.

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j 'NITE i STATES PATENT Omen. 1

CHARLES H. EIMKE, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

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SPECIFICATION forming pel-t ef Lettereratent Ne. 53o,4o4, dated Deeeinber 4, 1894.

` Application mea septemberalsha serai 110,522,166. me meaei.)

To all whom `it may concern/,V l Be it known that 1CHARLE`S H. Elinks, of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Railway-Switch, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to improvements in railway switchesyand `the object of my inventionis to produce a switch nand mechanism for throwing it, which may be applied to any ordinary railway, but which is `particularly adapted for use on street railways and more especially those employing cable or electric.cars,and also to produce a switch and working mechanism of comparatively simple construction, which is provided with contact pins, which may be struck by a moving car, so as to throwthe switch point to either side; which,.however, has these pins arranged so as to be normally below the road-bed, which has means for automatically raising the pins into operative position by the passage of a car over the rails, and which has a very simple mechanism carried by the car and adapted to 'strike the pins and throw the switch.

To these ends my invention consists of eertain features of construction and combinations of parts, whichwill be hereinafter described and claimed.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification,

in which similar figures of reference indicate t corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of the track and shows my improved switch working mechanism and the mechanism on the f car for working the switch. Fig. 2 is a sectional plan on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a vertical section on the line 3-3 of Fig. l. Fig. 4 is an inverted plan of the car. Fig. 5 is a plan view of the switch working mechanism and its containing case. Fig. 6 is a cross section on the line 6-6 of Fig. 5. Fig. 7 is a vertical section on the line 7--7 of Fig. 5; and Fig. S is an inverted sectional plan of the case in the road-bed and the plate which covers it, this view showing particularly the spring for holding the switch carrying slide plate in place.

The switch is shown in connection with a railway having the usual main track rails 10 which, at the point where they connect with 4 the sliding rails 12 are provided with the usual switch point 11. The mechanism for working the switch is contained in a case 13 of metal. or other suitable material which is sunk in the roadbed, is covered by a top plate 14, is provided with a bottom slot 15 for drainage, and which has in thetop plate a removable cover 16 which enables the mechanism in the case to be conveniently reached when necessary. The switch point 11 is connected with a slide plate 17 by which it is moved, this plate sliding in the plate 14, as shown best in Figs. 2 and 6, and the slide plate is moved by the vertical pins 18 which project through holes in the slide plate and slide in a slot 19 in the plate 14. The slide plate has, near thecenter and on the lunder side, a pin ,2O` which is adapted to engage the projection 2l of the spring 22, Fig. 8this being fastened to the under side of th'eplate 14, as shown clearly inFig. 8, and the'cam-like projection 21 of the spring, by engaging alternately the opposite sides of the-pin 20, holds the slide plate 17 in place and prevents its accidental Yremoval. The apparatus would probably work substantially as well without the spring 22, but the spring may be used as an additional safe-guard to prevent the sliding of the plate. The pins 18 are enlarged at their lower ends,

l as shown at 23, and fastened to aslide rod 24 which is placed at right angles to the rails 10 and is held in guide posts 25 which are longitudinally slotted, as shown at 26 in Figs. 1 and 6, so that the slide rod 24 may move freely longitudinally orvertically.

The slide rod 24 engages the eyes 27 of the lifting arms 28 which are thus free to slide on the rod, and these arms are carried by the rock shaft 29 which is journaled-in supporting posts 30 and one of the arms 28 is prolonged to form a crank 31 which is pivoted to a lever 32, while one end of this lever is pivoted to a supporting post 33 and thusthe lever hangs at one side of one of the arms 28 and parallel therewith, as shown in Figs. 5 and 6.

On the upper side of the lever 32 is a contact block 34, which projects upward through a slot 35 in the topV plate 14 and in one of the rails 10, and the slot and block are arranged adjacent to the switch point 11. The block lies normallyin the groove of the rail with its upper edge about level with the highest portion of the rail, and the pins 18, slide rod 24 and arms 28 are sufficiently heavy to hold the block normally in this position and, of course, the pins will be in the position shown in Fig. 6, with their tops just level with the top of the slide plate 17. When, however, the car approaches the switch, the car wheel strikes and depresses the contact block, thus pushing down the lever 32 and crank 31 and this turns the rock shaft 29, lifts the arms 28 and raises the pins 18 to the position shown in Fig. 3, so that they may be struck by the shifting apparatus on the car.

It will of course be understood that any suitable mechanism may be carried bythe car to strike the pins 18 and throw the slide plates 17 and switch 11 to one side, but the device illustrated and described below is preferably employed.

As shown, the car 36 is provided, near each end and at a point below the center of the car, with a vertical crank shaft 37 which has, at its lower end, a foot 38 to engage the pins 18 and at its upper end a crank 39 which connects by a second crank 40 with the lower end of a verticalshaft 41 which is journaled on the car platform and has, at its upper end,

a handle 42 and an ordinary locking latch 43. It will thus be seen that by turning the handle 42 the shafts 41 and 37 may be turned and the foot 38 thrown to the right or left, as desired, thus striking the desired pin 18 and throwing the switch and guiding the car.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. The combination, with the track rails and switch rail, of the slide plate connected with the switch rail, the vertically movable pins held in the slide plate, the depressible contact block on the track, and a lever mechanism for raising the pins by the depression of the block, substantially as described.

2. The combination, with the track rails and the switch rail, of the vertically movable shift pins connected with the switch rail, the vertically and longitudinally movable slide rodV carrying the pins, the depressible contact block on the track, and a lever mechanism for raising the slide rod by the depression of the block, substantially as described.

3. The combination, with the track rails and switch rail, of the vertically movable shift pins connected with the switch rail to move it, the vertically and longitudinally movable slide rod carrying the shift pins, the rock shaft, the contact block arranged on the track and having a crank and lever connection with the rock shaft, and lifting arms connecting the rock shaft and slide rod, substantially as described.

4. The combination with the switch rail and the slide plate connected therewith and provided with a pin or lug, of the spring having a cam like projection between its ends engaging the said pin to lock the slide frictionally in its several positions, substantially as described.

CHARLES H. EIMKE.

Witnesses:

JOHN HENRY BERGE, F. L. BROWN. 

